BHS girls win 3

The Baldwin High School Bulldog girls added three more Frontier League wins in five days, with two of their three games remaining in the season being league games.

Baldwin traveled to Spring Hill Tuesday night and came away with an ugly win. The Bulldogs won 48-47 while having an off shooting night and only making 16 of 28 free throws.

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"Mentally, I didn't think we were into the game," coach Eric Toot said. "We had some breakdowns and allowed them to do whatever they wanted to do offensively."

Baldwin gained a 3-2 lead on a 3-pointer by senior Anna Gillispie early in the game. Baldwin never gained the lead back until one minute remained in the third quarter.

Spring Hill led 13-9 after the first quarter and continued to add to its lead in the second quarter. At one time midway through the quarter, Spring Hill led 21-12 and would go into halftime leading 26-19 on a last second 3-pointer.

"At halftime, we knew we needed to get on them early and get back in the game," senior Emily Brown said.

Baldwin stayed close in the third quarter and gained a 37-36 lead at end of the quarter. The fourth quarter saw five lead changes, but Baldwin was ahead with a minute to go.

After senior Jamie Lawrenz made two free throws to give Baldwin a 48-44 lead, senior Kari Garrison stole the ball and was called with a controversial carry as she headed down court.

Spring Hill trailed 48-46 in the final seconds and freshman Amanda Dittmer had two 3s rattle out, but her teammate got fouled on the rebound. Senior Nancy Odrowski made her first free throw to close the lead to one, but missed her second with less than one second to go, giving Baldwin the victory.

"The win was very big," Brown said. "If we can play the worst game in four years against a decent team and come out with a win, it says something about us."

Toot said it was the second game in a row where the team hadn't shot well from the field. He also said they had a lot of mental breakdowns on defense, especially on knowing who to guard and blocking out.

Toot also said the win was important because it keeps them alive to win the league.

"The win keeps us in line for the league title," Toot said. "You've got to give them credit for playing us hard."

On Friday night, Baldwin played host to Eudora in the highly anticipated rematch. Baldwin was victorious 54-41, despite only shooting 29 percent from the field.

"We didn't play our best defensively and our shooting was below average," Brown said. "Even though that wasn't working, we did other things to come out with a win."

In the first match-up, Baldwin defeated Eudora 63-52 in the championship game of the Top Gun Tournament.

On Friday, Baldwin took an early 7-0 lead but saw it dwindle to only an 11-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter would feature five ties and seven lead changes and would end in a 23-23 tie.

"We did very well on defense, but our big problem was our shots weren't falling," senior Kalie Harris said.

With 48 seconds left in the third quarter, Baldwin trailed 33-34, until Gillispie made two 3-pointers in 40 seconds. This would be the last time Eudora would come within three points of Baldwin.

"Momentum wise, that was huge," Toot said. "Six points is big, especially when you get them on two shots like Anna did."

Eudora cut the lead to three and four points in the fourth quarter, but Baldwin made eight of its final 10 free throws to clinch the win.

"I thought we executed very well on the offensive and defensive end," Toot said. "We executed our game plan. The area of the game we struggled with was shooting. When you don't shoot the ball well, you don't look like you are playing very well."

The game was paused for a few minutes at 5:11 in the third quarter, because a fire alarm was pulled. The alarm was going off for approximately a minute before the game was halted, but it was soon turned off.

"I just thought it was a noise maker," Brown said of the alarm. "We went on a little run after that, so it was a good thing."

Toot said the victory was huge for the league and sub-state standings.

"At this point in the season, it was probably our biggest win of the year, when you take into account it was two teams undefeated in the league," Toot said. "It was also a big win as far as seedings for sub-state."

Baldwin only attempted six 3s in the game although it averages over 15 per game. Toot said it was because the Eudora defense played behind Baldwin's post.

Brown scored 17 points and Gillispie added 11 points for Baldwin.

On Thursday, Baldwin played at Prairie View and came home with an 83-48 victory.

"We played very well," Harris said. "We got out and ran. We pushed the ball and got in transition. Our defense wasn't that good, but our offense made up for it."

Toot said that in a fast paced game, teams are more likely to give up more points than in a slow game.

"We just came out and played our game from the start," Toot said. "When you're in an up tempo game, you give up more easy shots, but you also get easy shots."

Brown led Baldwin with 28 points. Garrison also added 17 while Harris scored 14 in the winning effort.

The Bulldogs play their final three regular season games in the next seven days. Friday they go to Paola, Monday they travel to Bishop-Ward and will play their senior night on Feb. 26 at home against Louisburg.